scotford



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

L..K.SOOTFORD. MACHINE FOR CUTTING RUBBER, TYPE.

No. 531,069. Pat ted Dec. 18, 1894. //E

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

L. K. SGOTPORD. MAGHINE FOR CUTTING RUBBER TYPE.

N0. 531,069. Patented D60. 18, 1894.

I Wmaw I JhrezzZ /i I gl mw/ limzzsKScoyfom Tn: NORRIS PETERScu..mo1'o-uTHo.. AsnmeToN n c I f ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS K. SOOTFORD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE SUPERIOR RUBBERTYPE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FoR CVUT'QI'IVNG RUBBER TYPE.

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 531,069, datedDecember 18, 1 894.

' Application filed August 30, 18 94. serial No. 521.689- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:'

Be it known that I, LoUIs K. SCOTFORD, of Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Machines for Cutting Rubber Type; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an improved machine for use in forming rubbertype by cutting from a rubber sheet containinga large number of separatepieces or blocks each containing a single character and which constituteseparate type bodies.

In the manufacture of rubber type the ordinary metal or wooden type-iscommonly used as a pattern from which the rubber type is made or copiedby a process involving the arrangement of the type in a form containinga large number of characters, the making of a matrix for the use ofplastic material or otherwise from such form, and the molding andvulcanizing of the rubber by use of the matrix into a sheet containing alarge number of characters corresponding with those of the original typeform. In making the separate types or type bodies in such a sheet it iscommon to sever the sheet between the rows of characters so as to formstrips containing a large number of characters side by side, and to thensever the strips between the characters so as to form the individualtype bodies. The machine herein shown is more particularly intended forthis latter step in the process, to wit, for severing the individualcharacters from the strips containing a single line or row of suchcharacters, and is designed more particularly to facilitate and cheapenthe manufacture of type in quan-v tities by severing the individualcharacters from a number of rubber type strips at one time or by oneoperation.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is asectional view taken online 44 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a view from beneathof a rubber type sheet after it had been cut or severed by the use ofthe machine.

As shown in said drawings, A indicates the horizontal bed or table ofthe machine which. is'mounted onv suitable legs or uprights A. Mountedon the top of the frame A at the front thereof is a horizontal slidingtable B- which rests and slides upon horizontal guides O O secured tothe top of the table. Above the table is located a verticallyreciprocating knife D which is mounted at the lower end of the uprightreciprocating bar or plunger E which is held and guided in the upper endof an overhanging frame F attached to the table A at the rear of thecarriage B. Said carriage, as herein sho wn. consists of a bed plate 3'provided on its end surface with grooves Z) b engaging the guides O Cand a cutting table B on which the work rests and which is made of wood,lead, or other material against which the cutting edge of the knife mayact withoutinj ury to the said cutting edge. The upper surface of saidtable B is provided with small parallel grooves b b arranged at equaldistances apart and parallel with the guides O O. Said guides G O areshown as cast integral with the base plate 0' which is secured by a bolt0 or otherwise to the machine table A. a At its rear edge or side whichis remote from theoperator the plate 0 is provided with an outwardlyextending arm or flange O carrying at its upper end a guide G which islocated at the rear edge of the table B but which overlaps or extendsforward over'the uppersu'rface of said table. Said guide G is providedwith a transverse groove or notch 9 adapted to engage the rear portionof the knifeD, which knife extends from front to rear over the top ofthe table or at right angles to the direction of motion of the same. Thesaid knife D is shown as attached to a cross head E secured to the lowerend of the plunger E, which latter is held at its side margins inupright parallel guide grooves ff at the forward end of the arm F, asclearly seen in Figs. 1 and 2. For actuating the plunger E and the knifeattached thereto a lever H is forward through the slot in said plungerand engages a central opening e in a block E which is attached to thefront surface of the plunger. Said lever ll is curved downwardly andforwardly and terminates at a point near the level of the floor in frontof the machine, where it is provided with an end piece 71. whereby thelever may be operated. by the foot of an attendant seated before themachine to actuate the cutting knife, the parts being so arranged thatthe cutting knife will be depressed when the lower end of the lever IIis swung rearwardly or away from the operator.

A suitable device is provided by which the operator may move the table Balong the ways or guides C C. Such device is herein shown consisting ofa short horizontal shaft I mounted in the plate 0 and extendingforwardly therefrom at the center of the front of the machine. SaidshaftI is provided with a small gear wheel or pinion I which engages therack 13 formed on or attached to the lower surface of the carriage B. Atits outer or forward end the shaft I is provided with a milled head orhand wheel I by grasping which the operator may turn the shaft 1 ineither direction and thus move the table backward and forward or toright and left as desired.

At one side or end, preferably the left hand side, of the table B thelatter is provided with a guide strip J secured thereto in such manneras to form a transverse guide surface or ledge against which the typestrips placed on the surface of the table for cutting may be brought inorder to maintain the characters thereon in alignment with each otherduring the process of cutting. This guide strip J preferably consists ofa strip of rubber, wood, or other material which may be cut by a knifeand which is glued or cemented to the down surface of the table B Theuse of material which may be cut by a knife, as described, is preferredin order that the front or working edge of the said guide may be formedor cut by the action of the knife of the machine after the parts areassembled, so that in case the knife is slightly bent or curved, or ifit is not exactly at right angles with the path of the table, theworking face of the guide will be correspondingly curved or inclinedthereby insuring that such irregularity in the knife will have no efiecton the accuracy of the work in cutting the individual letters orcharacters from the rub ber strips.

The advantages gained by constructing the cutting device in theparticular manner described and shown will be more fully understood fromthe following description of the operation of the machine in cutting thetype.

The rubber type sheets when taken from the mold in which they are formedhave edges which are more or less irregular, but the figures orcharacters thereon are arranged in straight lines extending lengthwiseand crosswise with the sheet. As a first step in the making of aseparate or individual type from the type sheet the latter is firstsevered between the horizontal rows or lines of type by means of asuitable cutting knife and preferably by the use of a machine similar tothat herein shown, but one which is commonly constructed without amovable cutting table. The strips thus formed contain a single line orrow of characters but are rough or unfinished at their ends. A number ofthe strips which it is desired to cut at once are now placed upon thetable with their ends against the guide strip J at the end of the tableand the side edge of the rearmost strip against the stationary guide Gat the rear edge of the table. The table is then moved to bring theadvanced ends or the strips adjacent to the edge of the cutting knife.The knife is then lowered so as to just clear the body part of the stripbut low enough to strike the sides of the characters which project abovethe body of the strips, and the strips are then pushed or shiftedendwise until the end characters are all uniformlya little pressedagainst the edge of the knife. The knife is then depressed with theresult of severing the rough ends of all of the strips at pointsequi-distantto the several characters nearest the ends of the strips.The several strips are then turned bodily around so as to bring the cutoff ends against the guide J and the strips are all pushed endwiseagainst the said guide so as to bring the characters on the severalstrips exactly in line with each other from front to rear of the table.The table is then moved to bring the end characters which are nearestthe knife up to the latter and the knife is then depressed, therebysevering all of the rough ends from the opposite ends of the strips fromthose first operated upon. The strips will then be properly arranged forthe action of the knife in severing them into separate type bodies, andthis will be done by moving the carriage forward step by step a distanceeach time suff cient to bring the knife between the rows of characters,the out being made in each instance as close as possible to the lefthand side of the characters, so that the location of the charactersthemselves on the type bodies will be uniform.

The object gained by bringing the projecting parts of the charactersagainst the knife in making the first cut and preparatory to severingthe first row of types will of course be understood, it being clear thatthe ends of the strips are raised against the guide J and must first besevered at a uniform distance from the characters at that end of thestrips in order that the said characters may come exactly in alignmentwith each other when the strips are finally reversed and arrangedfol-cutting in a mannershown in thedrawings.

As before stated, the guide strip J is preferably made of rubber, wood,or other material which can be cut by the knife of the machine, and theedge of said guide against which the type strips are placed is finishedby being cut by the knife itself after all the parts are assembled. Byso doing all irregularity in cutting the type from the strips whichwould result from inaccuracy in the placing of the knife or a failure tosecure adjustment of the knife exactly parallel with the working edge ofthe guide J is avoided, it being obvious that if the said working edgeof the guide J is cut with a knife it will be or not.

An important advantage is gained by the construction in which the rearguide G is stationary and overhangs the cutting surface or table B It isobvious that if the rear guide were attached to the table it would benecessary to push the rear end of the cutting knife so as to pass infront of the guide, and in that case it would be difficult if notimpossible to maintain the end of the knife so close to the guide as toentirely sever the rearmost type strip, or that whichis' placed incontact with said guide. Similarly, if a stationary guide were usedwhich did not overlap the table a groove or space would be formedbetween the rear edge of the table and the guide in which a part of therubber strip nearest the guide would be squeezed by the downwardpressure of the knife, so the knife would fail to entirely sever thesaid type strip; and at the same time it would be difficult to adjustthe end of the knife so closeto the guide as to certainly sever thestrip which is in contact with the guide. By making the guide Gstationary and providing it with a notch 9 through which the knife movesand by making the guide to overhang the table, as shown, all theobjections referredto are avoided, it being obvious that by extendingthe rear end of the knife past the working surface of the said guide Gthe strip nearest the guide would be acted on throughout its entirewidth, and that the said strip nearest the guide would be supported bythe table in making the final part of the cut in the same manner as arethe other strips.

. The purpose of providing the table with small parallel grooves b b isto avoid completely severing the individual types from the type stripbut to leave the same connected by minute threadsof rubbersothattheindividual types will be held together in the handling and saleof the same, but may be easily dotached 0r pulledapart before they areused. It is desirable, however, for this purpose that the types in theline of type should be connected in more than one place, because ,ifjoined at single points only the connected line of type would easilybecome twisted or tangled in handling it and the grooves b b aretherefore placed so close together as to give more than one line ofconnection in the smallest type. This will be clearly seen from Fig. 5,which isa rear, underneath view of a series of type strips after theyhave been severed in both directions, this figure clearly showing theplurality of connections between .the individual types of each stripwhich are formed by reason of the presence of the grooves in the table BIt will, of course, be understood that the presence of the minuteconnections described after the action of the cutting knife is due tothe fact that the rubber at the lower face of the sheet yields or issqueezed downwardly to the grooves so that the rubber is entirelysevered only at the prominences or ridges between the grooves where theknife comes in actual contact with the surface of the table.

. In casting or making the type sheets which are to be cut or severed bythe machine to form single types each horizontal line or row ofcharacters on the sheet will commonly constitute what is known as a fontof type; that is to say, it will contain all of the letters of thealphabet and both the upper and lower case letters, most of the lettersbeing repeated several times so as to afford the proper proportion ofletters as common in making up concert type for ordinary printing; Eachline, therefore, after it has been severed by the machine described willconsist of a series of types connected by minute threads or filaments asdescribed, and will constitute a single small font adapted for use witha type holder in a dating stamp or the like. 'Aprincipal object,therefore, of leaving the separate types in each row connected byfilaments at their lower ends or edges, as described, is to enable eachsmall font to be handled and sold ble movable beneath the same at rightangles to the cutting edge of the knife, stationary guide overlappingthe table at the side edge of the same, and a guide attached to thetable at the end of the same, substantially as described.

2. A cutting machine for rubber type com prising a verticallyreciprocating knife, a table movable beneath the same at right angles tothe cutting edge of the knife, stationary guide overlapping the table atthe side edge of the same, a guide attached to the table at the end ofthe same, said stationary guide being provided witha notch toreceive-the knife, substantially as described.

3. A cutting machine for rubber typecomprising a verticallyreciprocating knife and a sliding carriage movable beneath and in adirection at right angles to the cutting edge of the knife, said tablebeing provided in its uppersu rface with a plurality of parallel groovesplaced close together and arranged parallel with the path of the table,substantially as described.

4. A cutting machine for rubber type comprising a verticallyreciprocating knife, a horizontally movable table beneath the same, astationary guide overhanging the edge of the table provided with a notchto receive the knife, a guide carried by the table, and means forgivingendwise movement to the table, sub stantially as described.

5. A cutting machine for rubber type com- LOUIS K. SCOTFORD.

lVitn esses:

TAYLOR S. BROWN, WM. S. HALL.

